Bits of the Day: Jewish Yoga; Mumbai Yoga Museum; Yoga to be Mandatory in India Schools

Jewish Yoga: Who says the goyim get to have all the Holy Yoga fun? Jews are embracing yoga and melding it with Jewish traditions. “Torah yoga combines prayers, passages from the Old Testament and themes from the Jewish calendar with classic yoga poses.” “Torah yoga, according to Hadassah Magazine, a publication of the charitable Zionist organization, was first officially practiced by Rabbi Myriam Klotz, director of yoga and movement practice at The Institute for Jewish Spirituality in New York, and a Torah scholar, Diane Bloomfield, who wrote a book on the subject in 2004, entitled “Torah Yoga.” Well whadya know. Sons of Abraham unite in yoga. Shalom. [India Post] [Torah Yoga]

India Reclaiming Yoga, Opens Yoga Museum: Recently, India has been making a concerted effort to reign in and preserve the history of yoga. Swamster Ramdev is lauded as reigniting yoga’s popularity and the country’s officials have been working to protect India’s heritage by documenting 1,500 yoga postures drawn from classical yoga texts, including the writings of Patanjali. And so it’s not so surprising The Yoga Institute (TYI) has opened a new Yoga Museum in Mumbai. “In this age of multiple Yoga brands providing instant cures or spiritual evolution, we have remained steadfast in preserving and promoting ideas of classical Yoga, which has been perfected in this country over centuries,” said TYI Director Hansa Jaydev. [The Hindu]

Yoga Homework: In the hopes of keeping the nation in top health, India health minister Anbumani Ramadoss announced yesterday a plan to make yoga mandatory in all schools and colleges. Citing yoga’s benefits in preventing health-related problems and warning the possibility of climate change having an increasingly negative affect, the Central Government has decided all youngsters must be in the yog. While we wish we knew about yoga as kids, making it complusory probably would’ve turned us off immediately – little punks we were! Is it weird they’re making it mandatory? [Times of India]